adventures in the kin trade

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Bland

I don’t have the figures, but I don’t think it was unusual for women in Victorian Britain to be pregnant on their wedding day. (Those that weren’t may have been breastfeeding.)

When Ann TEMPLE married for the first time in 1875 she was 34 years old, the mother of five children and probably pregnant. I haven’t been able to find a birth registration for her sixth child, Ellen (or for her third, Mary Ann), but she would give birth in marriage to two more.

The father of all her children was almost certainly James BULMER, the eldest son of Graves Bulmer and Ann Hudson (post Horse Trading last Sunday).

In 1861, James was 26-years-old and unmarried, farming 120 acres at Reighton, near Filey, and employing 4 servants, one of whom was Ann, his housekeeper.

Ten years later, still at Moor Farm, Ann has three children bearing her name, aged 6 down to two and she continues to be a servant to unmarried James. (A fourth child, John her eldest, was away on Census night.)

William came along in 1872 and three years later James and Ann decided to wed.

Filey Genealogy & Connections has given both of them a previous spouse but the marriage register (via Find My Past) clearly shows their single status.

The family seems to have moved to Filey before the wedding and in 1881 they are all together in Queen Street. Eighth and last child, Hannah, was born in 1884. The five children who had previously gone by “Temple” have all taken the Bulmer name, though it seems unlikely they were formally adopted.

As indicated above, two of the children may not have been registered at all, and none, as far as I can tell, was baptised. The scarcity of sources and the name changes have meant the family’s representation on FamilySearch Tree has been minimal. I have put Ann’s first five children on the World Tree with an “unknown spouse”, but acknowledging James’ probable paternity in notes. I had to create records for several children because “the system” didn’t recognize them. I created a Mary Ann TEMPLE ID but she is already on the Tree as a BULMER. I’ll do a merge later using the existing ID because it links to her husband, Thomas Henry JOHNSON, and some of her children. There is a Johnson family headstone in St Oswald’s churchyard, broken alas.

In loving memory of TOM HENRY, the beloved husband of MARY JOHNSON, died Feb 8th 1932, aged 65 years.

Peace, Perfect Peace

Also of the above MARY JOHNSON, died June 16th 1944 aged 78 years, also of

BEATRICE ELLEN, beloved wife of their son HENRY JOHNSON, died March 17th 1947 aged 47 years

Also of LOUISA MARY, daughter of the above T.H. AND M. JOHNSON, died August 15th 1962 aged 65 years.

Also of the above HENRY JOHNSON, died 20th February 1965 aged 70 years;

Also THOMAS GLAVES (sic), son of the above T.H. AND M. JOHNSON, killed in the Great War April 10th 1918, aged 19 years.

Today’s Image

Bland’s Cliff in Scarborough is named after the Quaker, John BLAND, who lived on the steep street at the beginning of the 19th century. I think this may be him on FamilySearch Tree. It is an intriguing Pedigree anyway, leading to far-flung places.